CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation has signed a pact with the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to carry out maintenance and installation works of handrails in flyovers across the city. The pact will see the Chennai Corporation outsource corresponding works to SAIL, instead of approaching private players in the future.
In this connection, work to fit stainless steel handrails, sourced from SAIL’s Salem plant, began on the 520 m-long flyover at the junction of Dr Radhakrishnan Salai and TTK Road, at a cost of `1.32 crore. Mayor Saidai S Duraisamy and Tamil Nadu Social Welfare Minister P Valarmathi inspected the site on Monday and said that undertaking the work would mean that it is no longer necessary to paint the flyover rails every three years and this as such is beneficial.
The Chennai Corporation, in recent times, has undertaken similar cost cutting measures for carrying out maintenance and repair work on city flyovers. Restoration works on the Kodambakkam flyover are underway at a cost of `8 crore, while rebuilding the aging structure, as was planned earlier, would have cost `50 crore.
The Corporation is also involved in works to replace expansion joints in flyovers in order to prevent damages to bearings, with work currently underway on the flyover near Gandhi Mandapam. The work is expected to be complete within the next fortnight. Following this, the Corporation will also undertake epoxy paintwork on the flyover.
It has also been mandated that sticking posters and flyers on the walls of the flyover is banned. As such, violators will be arrested and legal proceedings initiated against them and the organisation or the individual, whose information the poster pertains to. Workers hired under the Swarna Jayanthi Urban Employment Scheme will handle the upkeep of the flyover, including sweeping and tearing off posters.